Interview with Dr. P.S.R.Murty, HOD/EEE , SNIST

The smile on his face neither seems to fade nor his long list of achievements. An achiever all through his life and one of the best teachers Dr.P.S.R Murthy says that he sees his age in his students. From a poet to a highly qualified academician and now a proficient Reiki practitioner, he traces his accomplishments with Manasa Pamaraju & Swetha.

All through his life he has been the numero uno in whatever he has taken up.

On his early education, Professor Murthy recollects

"I received my early education upto first year BSc in Hindu school and college,in Machilipatnam.I was very much interested in poetry and have penned some poems in Telugu I was inspired by the great English poets Milton, Wordsworth and Shakespeare and have won a number of prizes in literary activities during the early part of my education".

Dr.Murthy had secured the first rank in his tenth class public examinations. An unfortunate incident prevented him from joining the IIT. Nevertheless he took up Electrical Engineering in a reputed engineering college Govindarama Secksaria Institute of Science and Technology(SGSTI),Indore.

During his engineering ,he reminisces "Every year I was called on stage to receive some or the other prize either for literary activities or for mu academic performance. I had won the first prize in an essay writing competition conducted by the United Nations".

At the end of his engineering course he was the university second ranker. As a consequence of his high academic record he was called for a stream of interviews by BHEL Bhopal, Atomic Energy Commission, Bombay, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, and was also selected by the Government of India for a senior fellowship course.

 

Professor Murthy on his further education

"I was selected on the basis of merit by the Government of India, for a Senior Fellowship programme which was being offered to have well trained post-graduate holders for teaching in the Regional Engineering Colleges, which were coming up. This technical teaching programme was offered at Roorkie, Gindi, Pune and Bengal engineering colleges along with IIT Kharagpur. I took up my three-year technical teaching programme accompanied by post-graduation course at the Pune engineering college, under the able guidance of Professor M.V.Deshpande(HOE) as my research guide. I pursued my research in Advanced Electrical Machines. I took up the design,construction and testing of Shaded pole type Single-phase Induction Motor as a project in the final year. My design did not correlate with the test.Due to lack of proper technical support, I approached a factory near Pune, in order to manufacture the machine as per the design specifications".

There was a lot of hard-work put into it and finally Dr.Murthy emerged once again

as the first-ranker in the post-graduation programme.

"The weightage of post-graduate programmes was so high in those days that my degree was personally signed by the then honourable Governor of Maharashtra Mrs.Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit. I have cherished and preserved the degree to this day".

Soon after completing his masters, Professor Murthy had an offer from Siemens, Germany, apart from the offers of joining the RECs as assistant professor. He took up the latter. He also underwent a three-month course in the design and maintenance of various electrical machines at Kirloskars in Bangalore.

 

Recalling teaching career, he says "I joined REC Warangal in 1964 as assistant professor and continued till 1977. I was sent on a German Academic Exchange programme to Technological University, Berlin, West Germany in 1973 to do my doctorate. Later in 1977 I joined Osmania University Engineering college and was a part of it till 1997".

In these twenty years, Professor Murthy took up various offices as the Head of the Department, Electrical engineering, Chairman Board of Studies, Vice Principal and Principal of O.U college of engineering .He was also appointed as the Dean of Engineering Studies.

Professor Murthy seemed to have never left any time for leisure. But apart from his official duties and activities in the college he has lots to his credit in extra-curricular activities. He is accredited to be the first person to organize the National Power System Conference in the country. This was the first time people from various sectors related to Power Systems like Research, Power Industry and colleges were brought under the same roof. Since its inception, this meet has become an annual event for the last twenty years. He has written a book, "Power System Operation and Control", published by Tata-Mcgraw Hill in 1983. He went as the visiting professor to Salauddin University, Arbil in Iraq. He was the State Convenor of national level ECET examinations along with Professor Lakshmi Narayana and Convenor of EAMCET-89 along with Professor Narasimha Reddy. He has also guided three doctorates.

 

Teaching has always been his passion, " I love teaching and see my age in the students I teach, so I consider myself to be young. The only difference now is that I am teaching in my leisure".

 

Professor Murthy has also mastered the art of practising Reiki and is conducting an independent research on the subject.

He elucidates on Reiki as follows, "The philosophy propounded in reiki is the essence of Indian spirituality and it has gone to other countries in the medieval times. The word "Reiki" means universal life force. This theory for understanding of universe encompasses all physical and metaphysical beings.The benefits of practicing Reiki are innumerate. It can be used to cure both mental and physical ailments. We have two bodies :one is the physical body with flesh and blood and the other is a light body or the mental body. Just as we cannot see our thoughts and so we cannot see this light body. Actual practice of Reiki deals with absorbing light from the supreme power and this power first cures the light body and this in turn cures our physical body. This technique can be used to cure ailments of other person who is far away."

 

Regarding the opportunities in Electrical stream ,he opines , "There is no saturation in a field . Depending on the type of research being conducted the engineers have to mould themselves. On the basis of necessity and relevance the Government should permit new engineering colleges. The present area in demand is Power Electronics and Electric Drives. Various industries are taking up designing and production work."

 

Opinion on IEEE student chapter at SNIST: "It is a very good initiative taken by the students to organise various activities and sustain the chapter with continuous effort and activity. It forms an excellent platform for all the branches to exchange latest technical information.

I personally regret that I am unable to get involved because of my schedule. But I am happy with the spirit with which all the members are getting involved. Being a member of a technical body is a benefit. So be proud of being associated with one".

 

A word of advice to students: "Be proud to be an Indian and utilise the resources available for the benefit of our country. If this attitude is imbibed among all the students then the academic programmme can be made more flexible. Eventually this will give us a better India".